MANILA: At least 27 bodies have been recovered while search and rescue operations continued Saturday for the 46 missing people following a landslide which occurred in a mining village in the Philippines last Thursday, officials said Saturday.
At least 23 of the bodies were already identified while the number of missing in the landslide that hit Napnapan village rose to 46 as of Saturday, Xinhua reported quoting military and social welfare officials.
Rhona Siojo, municipal social welfare officer, said 27 of the bodies were already brought down and those identified had been given to their families. Five of those killed were children aged four to 16 years.
The landslide hit early Thursday when most of the villagers were asleep, trapping most of the victims inside their shanties, said Raul Villocino, head of the disaster team from the provincial government.
About 60 houses were destroyed or buried as tonnes of soil, rocks and uprooted trees cascaded down the side of the mining village.